Through patent application No. 89.01981 of Feb. 15, 1989, a device is already known for the separation and alignment of objects, more particularly of parcels or packages in a postal sorting installation, comprising means of conveyance for these packages brought in bulk to the entrance of the device and the discharge of these same packages, separated and aligned, at the outlet. This device comprises, notably, at least one drum in the form of a truncated cone, open at its extremities, continuously driven in rotation about its axis disposed inclined towards the horizontal, and which comprises, within its internal area, a set of helical fins, axially offset one in relation to the other and together extending over at least one complete revolution of the truncated cone, the packages introduced at the upper extremity of smaller diameter at the entrance of the truncated cone being discharged at its lower extremity of larger diameter at its outlet.
With this device, although the distribution of the packages is generally satisfactory, situations can nevertheless arise in which the separation, i.e. the spacing, of these packages, is insufficient, particularly when some packages overlap or are not separated from one another by a sufficient spacing to allow a package to be processed before the following one appears, in turn, at the indexation bay.